MU men’s hoops falls to CCSU 78-58

WEST LONG BRANCH – Sophomore guard Kyle Vinales of Central Connecticut State rose up over freshman guard Jalen Palm of Monmouth University and rained a 3-point basket from the left wing.
Monmouth guard Dion Nesmith drove to the hoop but his shot was destroyed by CCSU 6-foot-6 center Joe Efese who registered seven of his team’s 11 blocked shots.
CCSU sophomore Adonis Burbage nailed a 3 from the right corner.
The plays were typical Thursday night of a Northeast Conference game that began poorly for the Hawks and ended badly, 78-58, before a quiet audience of 1,205 at the Multipurpose Activity Center.
“We got dominated right from the beginning when our shots were getting blocked right around the rim,” coach King Rice of Monmouth (8-14, 3-6) said.
“That set the tone for us and we could not guard them at all.”
Vinales, the No. 3 scorer in the nation, pumped in 24 points and Burbage had 21 to top four players in double figures for the No. 2 scoring team (72.7 ppg. in the NEC.
CCSU (7-11, 5-4) shot 51.6 percent for the game, 52.6 percent in the first half (20-for-38) and 50 percent in the second (12-for-24).
It made 13 of 28 from downtown, 6 for-11 in the second half.
“When you can’t guard anybody on the other team then you end up losing by 20,” Rice said. “And our effort was lousy.”
Center Marcus Ware are scored a season high 16 points for Monmouth and Stephen Spinella had all 11 of his points in the first half and rookie Tyrone O’Garro tied his career high with nine rebounds.
“We just let them get their heads up,” Ware said. “They got their confidence and they were just making every shot. We weren’t guarding hard enough, they were just getting open shots. We weren’t putting our will on them.”
In his return from a heel problem Monmouth sophomore Andrew “Red” Nicholas had nine points.
“Red tried hard,” Rice said. “I probably left him in too much. But Red will get back in shape and be able to play better.
“‘Hopefully I didn’t play him too much and then he won’t be able to play on Saturday (vs. Bryant).
Monmouth was without improving freshman point guard Christian White who Rice said suffered ” a bad ankle sprain” in practice Wednesday and is “out for a while.
” Christian is a tough kid though,” Rice said. “Christian will be back quicker than most people.”
Monmouth cut a 19-point deficit early in the second half to get as close as 11 with 13:35 to go.
Its deficit stood at 12 when it held CCSU scorless for almost three minutes. But the Hawks missed five shots, were unable to make up any further ground, and any hopes of making a late run were gone.
“They’d cut it and we’d answer with a 3,” CCSU coach Howie Dickenman said. “They didn’t have White, Nicholas played on one leg and that didn’t help them though I don’t know if that would have affected the outcome.
“We just (led) from just about the opening tip.”
Monmouth gave up its second most points in the first half this season when it trailed at the break 48-32. Only Syracuse with 58 had scored more.
Vinales may have as well been wearing orange. He blazed way for 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting. And that included missing four of five from 3.
CCSU shot 7-for-17 from downtown with Burbage going 3-for-7.
The visitors also committed one, lonely turnover while Monmouth had seven.
For the game Monmouth scored a season low five points off turnovers.
The Central staff includes third-year assistant Sean Ryan who played for Monmouth for two years in the early ’90’s.
“He’s overly qualified for an assistant coach,” Dickenman said.
“He commutes from Boston every day. That’s a love for basketball.”
tonygsports@aol.com

Comments

About Tony Graham

Long time Asbury Park Press reporter of local high school and collegiate sports. Proud Phan of the 2008 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

23 Responses to MU men’s hoops falls to CCSU 78-58

Starting to wonder about Rice. I’ve watched a couple of interviews recently and he is giving off a very strange vibe to me. Its almost like he’s resigned himself to the fact he doesn’t have the players he wants and needs to compete. He’s admitted a couple times in the past that he’s been too tough on the kids. I think now he knows its more than that. I wonder about his maturity level. Just my thoughts. Thanks

Its apparent in year 2 that maybe we gave King too much credit last year. Our prior staff was head and shoulders above them in preparation and system. Take a poll of the NEC head coaches, I assure you that they would say preparing for MU is a whole lot easier now. I’m thinking maybe we should have just brought in some asst. coaches who could recruit players. He is in for a tough run if he doesn’t get the kids to do more than play hard or recruit better than the role players in his first class.

This was by far the worst effort I’ve seen from the team this entire season. They played harder against syracuse, Nova and Maryland. They were never in this game from the tip off. I just wonder how CCSU can get a player that is the number 3 scorer in the nation? Was he ever on our recruiting radar? How do we keep losing out on these great NEC players year after year to Robert Morris, QPAC, CCSU and LIU?

Free throws, Free throws, Free throws…how many times do we not capitalize on getting free points. We lost 9 points at the line last night. That game showed that most of these teams just have better athletes than we do. They have better ball players than we do, and they have tougher players than we do. The coaches can only do so much. It comes down to the guys playing tough and protecting our home court. They let this team come in to the MAC and smack them around with no resistance…point blank zero resistance. Sure Marcus scored a season high 16 points, but the game was already out of reach.

After last night’s game, I feel that the season is once again slowly slipping away. If this is the effort they are going to give, we won’t win another game this season. The players need to be accountable for turning this thing around at this point. One of the seniors needs to step up, set the tone and get in the face of each and every player and say ” I refuse to lose any more games.” Call out his fellow players who aren’t giving 100% effort and demand the best from them. These are the types of players that build your program. They are the players who set the tone of your program. You have to have guys who have the mentality that they never want to lose, and feel that losing is never an option. I don’t know if we have one player on the team that fits that mold. Sure they all want to win games, I just feel that they are comfortable with losing. There is a big difference between the two.

Who do you feel is the team leader, and I’m not talking about points and rebounds?

TG – Simply put, this team doesn’t have a leader. KR is in over his head. He doesn’t prepare his team well. They don’t play as if they trust his system. I think that this MU team is just as talented as any other team in the NEC. They’re just not well coached and it shows.

Fannie – You’re entitled to all your opinions…say what you will about KR, just remember this is Year 2 of what figures to be possibly a longer rebuilding process than anticipated especially now that MU has jumped to the MAAC for next year.

As far as KR…..I personally am not about to judge him at this still infancy of his coaching career (the team seemed to have no problem with the system when it went 9-3 at the end of last year!) and I really have to take issue with your opinion of the talent.

With no disrespect to the MU players – you’re going to tell me there’s as much talent here as LIU, RMU, Wagner, CCSU..and Bryant? and ..who is MU’s Shane Gibson (SHU) .and so forth?.

TG – LIU is probably the most talented team in the conference and you just name dropped the NEC Player of the Year in Gibson. So yes, I’ll give you that. But saying that this team isn’t talented enough to COMPETE in the NEC is an insult to every player in that locker room. But that’s just my opinion. This team has the talent to compete, they just lack confidence. They’re not loaded but they’re not 20 point loss to CCSU bad. I think everyone agrees that Steele and Nesmith aren’t playing nearly as well as last year. What’s your theory as to why? And I think Austin Tillotson had a problem with the system even though they went 9-3 last year. Does that count?

As said so eloquently by so many before my coments, last night was painful to watch for many reasons. It seemed that MU had to work hard every trip down the court to only score a two pointer. Next possession CCSU comes down without any pressure at all and pops another three from wherever they wanted to, corner, top of the key etc. Couldn’t beleive the total number of fouls in the first half, I beleive the total was 4. MU had 7 TO’s to none for CCSU in the first half. Aren’t turnovers created by in your face man to man defense? For a moment, I felt that MU was in awe of the nation’s number 3 scorer! In the early going, MU tried to go inside, virtually every shot was rejected! Outside shots weren’t falling either. IMO, with CCSU hitting over 50% of their shots and MU repeatedly failing to make a shot after making a defensive stop just accepted “another loss ” and played out the clock. Hit A Free Throw made an interesting comment regarding where these other schools find these kids. During the CCSU introductions two kids were from Detroit, another from Pittsburg I beleive and none from CT. Where’s the connection between Detroit and Dickerman? Oh well.

Fannie – you said they are as talented as any other team in the NEC..They are not (in my opinion). during the 9-3 run Tilly had two games of 10 pts and another of 11..Could he have been probably a significant contributor this year? Very possibly….

The struggles of Jesse and Dion are a bit of a mystery. Maybe they’re putting too much pressure on themselves? Maybe they over achieved a little last year? Other teams may also be better prepared for them. Both tend to be streaky..MU could use a 3-4 week hot streak from both…

JOHN GIRALDO AIN’T WALKING THROUGH THAT DOOR! CHRIS KENNY AIN’T WALKING THROUGH THAT DOOR! MUSTAFA BARKSDALE AIN’T WALKING THROUGH THAT DOOR!

Fact of the matter is that this program has shunned its past much like the Oklahoma Thunder has shunned its past as the Seattle SuperSonics. It’s embarrassing.

As a proud alumn, I must concede that it was a huge mistake hiring King Rice. With all of the great candidates out there, why was this guy the right choice? I still haven’t been able to figure that out. He’s on a slow descent out of here & the best I can hope for (right now) is that he gets enticed by the D-League to coach alongside Reggie Theus & we scoop up Kareem to mop up.

Should’ve never let Coach Krayl get away. Tony, I know you agree with me on that.

Enjoy the Super Bowl commercials. As for basketball, at least Brookdale still has a team.

Ouch. It just feels like there’s no end in sight to this miserable state our program is in. KR isnt inspiring anyone at this point, fans or players. Game after game we watch teams with 7-8 man rotations out play us down the stretch (or sooner) while our 11 man rotation fails to bring any rythym or real results. At this point, give the seniors the minutes and see what happens. We couldnt play worse.

Also, i still struggle to understand why run of the mill nec teams have studs while we have no stand out player. Bryant, sh, ccsu all have go to players while we have nothing. Yes, red is solid, but if we’ve learned anything in the last few years, mu players simply aren’t raising their games in their sr years. Since blake, have we had a standout sr? Could jesse or dion be more disappointing this yr?

It is so hard being a fan of this team lately. Great arena, great campus, great location, but zero results in the past decade.

Joe – Me? ..I would have kept coach Krayl had I been hired as coach but I wasn’t (no doubt a good thing!)..New coaches invariably bring in their “own” coaches..Szoke kept Krayl because he knew how good he was from coaching against him in high school. ..King wanted to clean house. So be it…

Was it a mistake hiring Rice?..too early to jump to conclusions I would think..

About this time last year a lot of people we’re beginning to think it was a great move. Pls read the story about Bryant here on HN..it took them 5 years to get where they are today…

rev – well..u had 2 studs late in the past regime…Jhamar and Travis..but it didn’t quite pan out as we know

..I understand your frustration..everyone wants results right away…

MU probably should have jettisoned Dave a year before they did. The new coach then would have had more schollies to work with.

As it developed Dave brought in 3 of which two were/are (Austin and Red) good players but now only 1 is left…Overall it delayed the recruiting process…

Coaches always say injuries are no excuse but they are usually factors none the less….and this MU team could ill afford any.

It does, however, make it all that more remarkable though how RMU and LIU have managed to remain elite despite some key in season losses…they have tremendous depth and have recruited exceptionally well…

AT MU, rebuilding this program is going to take some time it would appear….we don’t know if there are any “studs” among King’s incoming group..we shall see I guess

The negativity of you guys is ridiculous. It is only King Rice’s second year. Last year was a great start, this year he may be digressing, but you have to put it into perspective. When Calloway first came to MU for the 97-98 year he only won three games in the conference, the next year only five wins. KR’s start may seem rough, but is much much better than Calloway’s. He had 10 WINS in the conference his first year. KR will be here for maybe as long as Calloway because each year he will keep improving the team. I see him here maybe 10-12 years. As long as he can recruit well and coach the team well (which he is very capable of) he will stay. We may see a few years of losing conference records because of the switch to the MAAC, but i am confident in KR and i think over the next 4-5 years he will pull the team together and be a good team in the MAAC. Also, Monmouth doesn’t have the “star NEC player” because of the change in coaches. If Calloway was still here, Steele might have been that guy, but the change of coaching styles, and the difference of the plays, may be setting him back. Marcus Ware isn’t a star because he has been plagued with injuries. Dion should have been our main piece this year but I have no clue what happened to him. If Nicolas can learn to set his own shot next year, he will score 18-19 points a game, and be the so desperately needed “star player.”

Also, Marcus Ware needs to practice free throws more than ever. He looked like Dwight Howard out there. He went 2-9! That is just ridiculous. He is 39-82 on the year. This needs to be changed because teams will foul him because they know he will miss, so it is pretty much an easy turnover.

Ricey – Marcus was around a 65 percent FT shooter coming into this yea which is not real good of course but at least passable. What’s s happened to him at the line lately is unexplainable…after going 8-9 over a 2-game stretch he is 5-for-20 in his last 3.

Ricey – one of the more reasonable and well thought out posts to grace HN in a while in my opinion. I don’t know if King – if successful – will be here 10 or so years..Most coaches who flourish at this level tend to move on. It would be a good “problem” to have…

This team looks tired going down the stretch in these games, there running from one end of the court to the other playing this pressure defense and there burnt out by the end of these games, and being short handed I think they have to change it up a little. Is it me or seeing that the few games Nicholas was out they played more team ball for the most part in these games, against CCSU he went 4 for 11 from the field. Thats alot of shots to take coming back from injury.

Lou – I see your point but Red’s going to take a lot of shots. If he can play, that’s why he’s out there..right? Seemed to miss some very makeable ones the other night .(tired late, etc?) .Team depth an issue now as I see it…may have to cut down on the def. pressure …If they lose tonight that’s 3 -head-to-head tiebreakers in the L column (SHU, CCSU, Bry)..makes Q’Pac a virtual must game ..against a team that kills them on the glass…

Joe Joe – to continue – you’re right..John and Chris and Mustapha aren’t walking through the door (actually Mustapha did the other night.. came over to me and said hello..was great to see him.

So it’s up to King to land players like that. He deserves that chance. Did they give Dave all five in his final stint?

Mistake … or great hire? It’ll all come out in the record…King has a 5 -year contract..this is year 2…

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Josh Newman on Monmouth University and local college athletics

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Josh NewmanJosh Newman has worked for the Press since September 2004, covering a variety of high school beats in addition to college sports and the New York Jets. A 2004 graduate of Springfield College, he is currently the beat reporter for Monmouth University.E-mail Josh

Sherlon ChristieSherlon Christie is a sports reporter at the Asbury Park Press. He joined the Press in the fall of 2004. He grew up in Massachusetts and has a BA in journalism from Northeastern University's School of Journalism. He is also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.E-mail Sherlon

Steve EdelsonSteve Edelson has been covering the area sports scene for more than 25 years. And while he has chronicled the accomplishments of many athletes, he's still patiently waiting for his first hole-in-one.E-mail Steve

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How I feel about the departures of Dion Nesmith and Marcus Ware

A good move, King Rice needs to look to the future with younger players who are :"his" recruits (57%, 67 Votes)

Not a good move, they would have been fifth year seniors who may have helped significantly (31%, 36 Votes)